Abstract

Discusses the personal reactions of the author, a university art therapy faculty member, to the events in New York of September 11, 2001. A planned assignment for graduate students to collect the drawings of children (aged 4-14 yrs) so as to examine child developmental stage theories was modified to allow for self-expression following the attack. Despite the assurances of school counselors that children were unscathed by the terrorism, the art that emerged from the children spoke from aching hearts and minds to attending hearts and minds. The graduate students encountering the children's works encountered themselves, their world, and their decisions to become art therapists. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved)